While no one seemed to take issue with my argument the blogger outreach terms is both outmoded and condescending, a large percentage of the comments I received here and on my social network accounts were negative. Many of these comments were from sincere people who described themselves as content marketers and are proud of it. A few people saw fit to respond with personal attacks, while others told me I obviously know nothing about content marketing as the term is currently used.

I have to plead guilty to the latter. I did not really bother to research just what the term meant; instead I ranted and, by so doing, displayed an area of personal ignorance.

In fact, I was on a rant. Three times in a little over a week I received unsolicited PR pitches from people who told me I was part of their blogger outreach program and they wanted me to write a piece in Forbes about their content marketing programs. Each of these programs looked more like spam than anything else.

I usually answer all PR pitches with a short “sorry, not interested,” which often ends it. In this case two of the pitch people pushed back during a busy time and I over reacted with my post.

I almost immediately regretted it. One of the first respondents to strongly disagree with me was Lee Odden, a book author and author of the popular TopRank Online Marketing Blog. I read Lee with some regularity and I talk with him on the social networks. I think he does quality work and I consider him a credible guy.

Lee wrote, in part: “The content marketers I know use customer insight, interests, goals and pain points to create editorial plans and that provide utility, not noise. It’s meaningful storytelling, not just mechanical spray and pray.

“Of course there are opportunists in every industry including PR and journalism that take shortcuts with shortsighted intent. But that does not define the entire channel or industry.

“The only way content used for marketing purposes works is if it’s useful to the people who consume, share and act on it. Distribution and social proof are not objectives as you’ve suggested. Awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy are the goals we strive for.”

He also pointed out that nine out of 10 business-to-business marketers use content marketing.

So I called Lee up and let him set me straight, which he did in far calmer language than I had used in my post.

Essentially, Lee said, "content marketing is usually done through story telling relevant to certain audiences, so that vendors can provide customers and ecosystem members with useful or interesting information intended to inspire some kind of action.”

The more I listened, the more it sounded like what Robert Scoble and I had advocated in our first book, Naked Conversations. It also sounds precisely like what I do for clients. I am often paid to write byline white papers or guest blogs, both of which are content marketing by Lee’s definition. I also use storytelling whenever I possibly can.

The longer we talked, the larger the foot in my mouth felt. In short, Lee persuaded me I was a content marketer although I have never called myself one.

So I apologize to all the content marketers I have offended. And I thank Lee for setting me straight.